Erika Arban
This contribution engages with the unit question in federal systems. The key claim presented here is that we may need to re-think federal units according to different sets of criteria than traditional ones such as, for example, economic factors, urban/rural concentration, and aboriginal/indigenous representation. A subsidiary claim is that the unit question is an important issue to raise, not only because it contributes to the (comparative) debate on how to make federalism more responsive to 21st century challenges and problems, but also because it contributes to some broad questions of constitutional design and constitutional theory. The essay is divided in three parts. Part 1 introduces federal units in general and looks at the distinction between physical (geographical) and authority boundaries; it also engages with debates in federalism theory on the unit question itself. Part 2 describes three alternative factors that may be used to guide the way some unit boundaries are drawn: economic factors, cities and the urban/rural concentration, and aboriginal/indigenous representation. Part 3 looks at a set of questions of constitutional design and theory triggered by the unit question that may enrich the comparative doctrinal debate.
